AIRLINE FLIGHTS PRICES

The Congressional Medal Of Honor Profiles of Americas Military Heroes from the Civil War to the Present - 3,460 and counting...

Is among the many heroes during the long war in Southeast Asia was Patrick H. Brady, the first US Army DUSTOFF pilot to receive the Medal of Honor. The son of one of World War IIs Darbys Rangers, Brady was born in 1936 in Phillip, South Dakota. In 1959, Brady was commissioned through the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps from Seattle University. As a newly commissioned officer he attended the Army Medical Service School at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and, upon graduation, followed with an assignment to the 6th Infantry Division stationed in Germany. In 1963, after completing helicopter training at Fort Rucker, Alabama, Brady was assigned to the 57th Medical Detachment (Aerial Ambulance) flying the Bell UH-1H Iroquois, known as the Huey, for the first of his two tours in South Vietnam. During this tour he served as a medical evacuation pilot in the Mekong Delta region of South Vietnam using the detachments standard callsign, DUSTOFFpicked because the helicopters often blew dust and shelters all over the men on the ground during pickups. After serving as the Detachment Commander, he was reassigned in January 1965 to Fort Benning, Georgia, where he helped form the 11th Air Assault Divisionthe predecessor to the famed 1st Air Cavalry Division. During this assignment Brady twice deployed to the Dominican Republic in support of US peacekeeping operations. In 1967 he returned to Vietnam for his second combat tour in the UH-1H. Assigned to the 54th Medical Detachment at Chu Lai, Brady served as both the Operations Officer and as the Commander. It was during this tour that Brady flew his most heroic mission. On 6 January 1968, responding to a medevac request, Brady repeatedly faced enemy fire to evacuate wounded. After four flights and three battle-damaged helicopters, he evacuated 51 seriously injured soldiers. For his actions on this day, President Nixon presented him with the Medal of Honor. During his two tours, he developed tactical and inclement weather flying techniques and flew over 2,000 combat missions, rescuing more than 5,000 wounded soldiers. He later served as the Commander, 326th Medical Battalion, Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Chief of Public Affairs for the Army, and Secretary to the United Nations Military Armistice Commission in Korea. His career culminated as Deputy Commanding General for Active Components, Sixth US Army, Presidio of San Francisco, California. Since his retirement in 1993 as a major general, Brady has served as the President of the Medal of Honor Society, Chairman of the Citizens Flag Alliance, and Commissioner of the American Battle Monuments Commission.

SETTING: On 6 January 1968, a call was made to medevac wounded soldiers from a fog-shrouded valley near Chu Lai. Repeatedly warned that rescue missions were impossible, Pat Brady still volunteered. Six times, Brady and his crew in DUSTOFF 55 overcame intense enemy fire and miserable weather to evacuate 51 American and South Vietnamese soldiers. Using three different helicopters that were hit over 400 times, his skill and daring became legendary. Moreover, Brady mission became synonymous for a challenging and dangerous rescue operation.

Rank and organization: Major, U.S. Army, Medical Service Corps, 54th Medical Detachment, 67th Medical Group, 44th Medical Brigade.
Place and date: Near Chu Lai, Republic of Vietnam, 6 January 1968.
Entered service at: Seattle, Wash.
Born: 1 October 1936, Philip, S. Dak.

Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty, Maj. Brady distinguished himself while serving in the Republic of Vietnam commanding a UH-1H ambulance helicopter, volunteered to rescue wounded men from a site in enemy held territory which was reported to be heavily defended and to be blanketed by fog. To reach the site he descended through heavy fog and smoke and hovered slowly along a valley trail, turning his ship sideward to blow away the fog with the backwash from his rotor blades. Despite the unchallenged, close-range enemy fire, he found the dangerously small site, where he successfully landed and evacuated 2 badly wounded South Vietnamese soldiers. He was then called to another area completely covered by dense fog where American casualties lay only 50 meters from the enemy. Two aircraft had previously been shot down and others had made unsuccessful attempts to reach this site earlier in the day. With unmatched skill and extraordinary courage, Maj. Brady made 4 flights to this embattled landing zone and successfully rescued all the wounded. On his third mission of the day Maj. Brady once again landed at a site surrounded by the enemy. The friendly ground force, pinned down by enemy fire, had been unable to reach and secure the landing zone. Although his aircraft had been badly damaged and his controls partially shot away during hi

Uncle Jerry was a C-47 Pilot much of the war as well as being a French translator when in Europe.

From a letter from my Uncle Gerald S. Yeaton dated Aug 21, 2002


He and his older brother Ivan A. Yeaton Jr. joined the Army January 16, 1941. Jerry then served on Cape Cod, MA at Camp Edwards until July 1942 when he had enlisted in the Aviation Cadet training program. He was sent to Kelly Field in San Antonio, TX where he took ground school and pre-flight. Then he was sent to Coleman, TX for primary flight training, San Angelo, TX for primary flight training and Lubbock, TX for advanced flight training. He graduated from all that April 22, 1943 and then went to Del Valle, TX for transitional training for C-47’s. After completion he was sent to the 436th Troop Carrier Group in Alliance, NE. They later were moved to Laurinburg-Maxton Army Air Force Base in NC until they shipped out for the UK on December 25, 1943. He served with the 436th for 19 months in Europe, dropping paratroops, towing gliders, evacuating wounded including some Germans, and hauling cargo. He also flew POW’s back from Germany to Paris upon their liberation. While in England he was picked along with his crew for Pathfinder duties where he stayed until VE day, May 8, 1945. To return home they flew south to Africa, over the South Atlantic to South America, and then finally north to the USA. He was discharged from the Army in October of 1945.
He flew only two assigned planes in Europe. The first was taken by another crew and they were all lost in an accident crashing into a hill in England in November of 1944. His second served him for the rest of the war. He lost touch with all his buddies until the reunions began late in his life when he attended as many as he could.

He passed away November 25, 2006 at age 84.